Feeding-machine for making ballast



(No Model.) 4 sheets-'sheet 1.

y J. STUBBS. FBEDING MAGHINB PoR MAKING BALLAST.

10.537.319 Pam ,edApL 1895.

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(No Model.) 4 sheets-sheen 2.

J.A STUBBS. FBEDING'MAGHINE PoR MAKING BALLAST.

' No. 537,319. Patented Apr. 9, 1895 me Medel.) 4 4 sheets-sheen 3.

Je STUBBS. FBBDING MACHINE EUR MAKING BALLAST. No, 527,319.v PatentedApr. 9, 1895.

UNITED STATES PATENTv OFFICE.

JESSE STUBBS, OF MOUNT PLEASANT, IOWA.

Psaume-MACHINE F'oR MAKING BALLAST.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Lettere Patent No. 537,319, dated April 9,1895.

i pplioatilfl filed October 18, 18794. 'Serial No. 526,333- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JESSE STUBBS, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of Mount Pleasant, in the county of Henry and State of lowa,have invented new and useful Improvements in Feeding-Machines for MakingBallast; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of said invention, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,which 'form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in that class of machines designedparticularly to afford means for saving labor by automatically feedingto a fire or kiln burning clay in the open air to make ballast, and thelike, for rail and other roads, the clay to be dug from the ground alongthe fire or kiln, thereby forming longitudinally of the kiln'a trench,and conveying the clay thus dug to and depositing it upon the kiln.

The objects of my invention are, first, to provide a shoe to which isattached the plow or plows, and an elevator, and to 'suspend such shoefrom a car body in such manner that the same may be adjusted verticallyand laterally and independently from said car body; second, to attachthe plow to the shoe by means of a plow beam, so that it (the plow) maybe adjusted vertically and laterally independently of the shoe; third,to so attach the plow supporting beam to said shoe as to permit it to beelevated or lowered, or thrown forward or backward, and retained in suchposition; fourth, to provide a shoe to which the plow is attached,consisting of a skeleton frame provided with guide-plates for convey.

ing the clay to the elevator; fifth, to provide gearings,take-ups,trolleys, &c., for transmitting power fromthe motor seated on acar, for the purpose of conveying the clay to the kiln;V and such otherobjects as will be hereinafter set forth and specifically claimed. Iaccomplish these objects bythe mechanism illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, in which-y Figure 1 is aside elevation of a flat car, with mydevice thereon, as also the engines for running the car and the boilerand water tank in side elevation. Fig. 2 is an end view in which theengines and water Vtank are omitted. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the car, aplan view of my device,'a plan view of the engines for running the carand the engines for operating the elevator, and the water tank allarranged on the car. Fig. 4 is a side View of the shoe with a portionbroken away to show the plow. Fig. 5 is a front view of one of theidlers, showing the tracks upon which it runs, in section. Fig. 6 is aside elevation of the yoke carrying the plow beam, with the beam andshoe in section; and Fig. 7 is atop plan View of the frame-work,consisting of tracks and rails upon which the trolleys run.

Similarletters denote similar parts throughout the several views. e

A represents an ordinary flat car, a, a, the wheels, and a', a', thetracks on which the car runs. A', A', are the engines that propel thecar. 'A2, A2, are the engines that drive the gearing to transmit motionto the endless belt on the elevator. B is the boiler and B the watertank. As these features are of the ordinary form and constitute no partof my invention, it is not necessary to enter into a more detaileddescription thereof.

C is the frame, upon which are mounted the trolleys, gear wheels,pulleys, drums, diro.v

This frame consists of the uprights c, c, tho

vertical tracks c', c', the braces c2, c2, the over- Y head tracks cl3,c3 and c4, the tracks c3, c3 being the two outer ones. The tracks, c3c3, stand at an angle to the track, c4, and in a lower horilatter onebeing somewhat shorter than the outer ones. On each side of the middletrack, between it and the outer track, and in the same plane, is a beamc5. The cross beams o, c, c6, c6, connect the tracks and beams. At eachend of the tracks c3, c3, c4, are pulleys c7, and on the track c4, nearits rear end, is an additional pulley ci. Likewise, at each end of thebeams c5 are pulleys o8, all for purposes hereinafter specified.

D is theshoe to which the plow is attached. This is of the followingconstruction, viz:

d is the bottom of the shoe and is inthe rform of a runner turned up atboth ends.

-zontal plane and c4, the middle track, this S5 IOO (Z2 is a cross beamconnecting the two ends of the runner.

d3, cl3, are two vertical supports or braces arranged near the center ofthe shoe and extending from the runner to the cross beam cl2. Near theends of the shoe are two tracks or angle irons (Z4, d", which also serveas braces for the shoe. I have shown four of 'these tracks or angleirons,two at each end of the shoe, when only one plow is used, as is thecase at present (although I have made provision for two), but two of theangle irons are used of course.

d5, d5 are two plates attached to the outside of the shoe and serve asguides to prevent a portion of the earth turned up by the plow fromfalling back in rear of the shoe.

E is the plow which is attached to one end of a plow beam c. The otherend of the beam is connected to the shoe by the mechanism illustrated inFig. 6, and which is of the following construction, viz:

e2, e2 are two plates connected together at or near their centers by tworivets. Attached to the back of one of these plates by the same rivetsis an arm e3, bent upon itself as at c". At or near the outer end ofthis arm is attached a yoke e5 of substantially U-shape, in which yokeis loosely housed the front end of the plow beam. The two plates e2, e2,are arranged on the angle irons or tracks d4, d4, in such manner thatthey be moved up and down on the tracks, thereby raising or lowering theouter end of the plow beam. The plates are adjusted up and down by meansof a screw bolt e which extends up from the arm es through the plate d',and is provided with a thumb nut e7, that rests on the plate. Near theforward end ofthe plow beam I attach one end of a cord or rope e8. Thisrope is then carried up and around a spring drum e, journaled in theupper cross beam of the shoe. It is then carried forward and around apulley ew, also journaled in the cross beam; then down, and attached tothe plow beam near the rear end thereof. Extending up from the drum e,and through and above the plate d', is a rod e, provided on its upperend with a wheel cl2 for turning the drum. On the rod e and adjacent tothe plate d', is a pawl and ratchet @13 for controlling the action ofthe drum. It will be obvious, by reference to the drawings, that byturning the drum in one direction or the other by means of the wheelcl2, the plow may be moved forward or backward as desired. It is to beunderstood, of course, that where two plows are to be used, the partsabove described are simply duplicated.

F is the elevator, which is attached to the shoe D, and extends at rightangles thereto, and which is used for conveying the clay from the plowto the kiln. This elevator consists in a frame in which are mounted aseries of small rollersf, over which an endless belt travels. At theupper end of the frame is a shaft carrying a roller and upon each end ofthe shaft esame is a sprocket wheel f', f. Near the lower end of theframe is another shaft carrying a roller and mounted upon each end ofthe shaft are two sprocket wheels f2, f2, andf-f.

f 1, f4, are two endless sprocket chains that extend from the sprocketwheelsf2,f2, to the sprocket wheelsf,f. One of these chains is upon eachside of the elevator and serves to communicate motion to the endlessbelt by the means hereinafter indicated.

G, G, are two trolleys provided with small rollers that permit them totravel on the tracks c3, c3. Attached to each of the trolleys is a ropeg which passes over the pulleys c7, c7, on each end of the tracks c, anddown to a hook g on one of the upright beams c. Also attached to thetrolleys G is a block and fall g2, which is connected to the elevatoroneach side near its upper end. A rope g3 extends from the trolley Garound the block and fall to and over a pulley g4 journaled in one ofthe uprights c of the rear end of the frame C, down to a drum g5journaled in the upright beams c' at the rear of the frame. This drum isprovided with a crank or handle g and a pawl and ratchet gl. By pullingon the ropes g, the trolleys G are moved along the tracks c3, and theelevator is thrown out a desired distance, and by pulling on the ropeg3, the outer end of the elevator' is raised or lowered as desired.

G is also a trolley provided with rollers similar to G, G. This trolleytravels on the track c4. Attached to one portion of the trolley is arope G2 for operating the trolley to control the distance at which theplow works from the car track,by means of intermediate devices to behereinafter described. This rope G2 extends from the trolley to and overthe pulley c7 on the rear end of the track c4, and thence to and overthe other pulley c7 on the rear end of the track, thence down around adrum G3 and up again to and over the pulley c" back to the trolley G.

The drum G3 is geared to a pinion G" which is rotated, thereby rotatingthe drum, which winds or unwinds the rope G2 and moves the trolley Gforward or backward, as desired. Also attached to the trolley G', andsuspended therefrom, is a pulley and block G5, that is connected withthe plow, and a hanger GG that is connected with the shoe D. This is theconnecting mechanism for controlling the distance at which the plowworks from the car track above referred to.

G7 is a differential pulley, for the purpose of raising and lowering theplow, and the hanger G6 has attached thereto a screw-block G8, by meansof which the shoe is raised or lowered as desired.

H, I-I, are two sprocket wheels which I term idlers. Eachidlerisjournaled in ayoke that slides up and down on the two vertical.tracks c-, arranged at each side of the frame C. Attached to the upperpart of each yoke is a rope h. This ropeV extends up to and over ICO thepulleys o8, ce, on each end of the beam c5, down at the rear of theframe G, and has on its end a weight h.

I-I, H, are two other idlers that are journaled in the vertical tracksc', and below these idlers is the shaft of the engine, that operates thebelt on the elevator, and on each end of this shaft is a sprocket wheelH2, which is of greater diameter than either of the idlers, and of aboutthe same diameter as the sprocket wheel f3. On each side of the elevatorthere is an endless sprocket chain which connects the sprocket wheels H2and f3 and the idlers H and H together, and thereby motion iscommunicated to the elef vator from the engines'A2, A2 on the car. Asthe elevator is thrown out and down, the idlers I-I, H, slide down thetracks c', thereby allowing the sprocket chain to extend out and allowthe elevator to be adj usted the desired distance from the car, as alsothe depth. As the sprocket chains H3, H3 descend, they are always kepttaut by means of the ropes h, h,

and weights h', h.

The operation of my device is as follows,

vizz-The car containing the machine is placed at the forward end of thekiln, and the plow, shoe and elevator properly adj usted. The enginesfor driving the endless belt of the elevator are then started and thecar is also started forward, andas it advances along the kiln the clayis plowed up and by means of the two guard-plates d5, d5, conveyed tothe endless belt of the elevator and thence car' ried up over theelevator and deposited on the kiln. This operation is continued until atrench is dug the length of the kiln, when the car .is run back and theplow shoe and elevator again adjusted to the proper depth and distancefrom the car; when the operation is repeated.

As has been previously stated, two plows I can be employed, if desired,one for plowing in a forward direction and the other for plowing back,or in the reverse direction, and this can be accomplished by simplyduplicating some of the present parts, as, for example, the plow, plowbeam, yoke carrying plow beam, adjusting screw, &c.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is

1. In a feeding machine, the combination with the frame, substantiallyas described, carrying the three trolleys, the pulleys and the ropesattached to the trolleys and to the elevator, of the elevator consistingof the endless belt, the drums carrying sprocket wheels Y on their ends,the sprocket chains for rotating the drums, the rollers upon which theendless belt runs and mechanism for operating the endless belt, allsubstantially as described and shown.

2. In a feeding machine for making ballast, the combination with theframe, substantially as described, the trolleys, pulleys and ropes,ofthe elevator and mechanism for operating the same, consisting of twoendless sprocket chains that are supported and operated by twovertically adjustable idlers, two stationary idlers, two large sprocketwheels journaled on the shaft-of the driving engines,v

the ropes and weights attached to the adj ustable idlers, allsubstantially as described and shown.

3. In afeeding machine for making ballast, the combination with theelevator, of a shoe and plow attached thereto and means for raising andlowering the shoe and plow, the same consisting of an overhead trolleyfrom which is suspended a pulley and blockattached to the plow and ahanger attached to the shoe and a rope for operating the trolley and adrum to which the rope is attached, all substantially as described andshown.

4:. In a feeding machine for making ballast, the combination with theelevator, of a shoe, and plow adj ustably attached thereto by means of aplow beam, one end of which carries the plow, the other end looselyhoused in a yoke supported by an arm bent upon itself and attached toplates that are adjusted vertically on the tracks of the shoe by meansof a screw and thumb nut attached to the arm, all substantially asdescribed and shown.

5. In a feeding machine for making ballast, the combination with theelevator and shoe, of a plow and means for adjusting the same forwardlyand rearwardly, the same consisting of a drum housed in the upper b'eamof the shoe, the vdrum provided with a rod and button or wheel forrotating it and a pawl and vratchet on the rod, a rope wound on the drumand passed around a pulley journaled in the beam and attached to eachend of the plow beam, substantially as described and shown.

6. In afeeding machine for making ballast, the combination with theelevator and plow, of a shoe consisting of a runner, the upper ends ofwhich are connected by a beam upon which rests a top plate or platform,braces extending from the runner to the beam and two guide plates.attached to the runner and center braces, substantially as describedan-d shown.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two subscribingwitnesses.

JESSE STUBBS.

Witnesses:

JOHN HoBsoN, R. W. BUCHANAN.

ICO

